Computer technology can influence various aspects of data storage, such as encryption of data persisted on storage devices. A variety of protection schemes can be implemented to increase the security of, and limit access to, content on such storage devices. For instance, data can be encrypted in a manner that requires a key to unlock data. Without such a key, it can be virtually impossible to access data, and breaking encryption can take countless hours.
Storage systems, and more particularly portable storage systems, such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices, are typically protected using either password-generated encryption keys or hardware implemented tamper resistant key-banks and cryptographic co-processors. Nevertheless, these current protection mechanisms are generally inadequate for providing strong protection and limiting access, as password-generated encryption keys can easily be revealed through dictionary attacks, and utilization of hardware implemented tamper resistant key-banks and cryptographic co-processors can be expensive and prone to reverse engineering and timing and power analysis attacks.